Obvious questions. How long to make and how much post processing? No real indicator of the injector pattern. That hole at the top could be feeding a network of injection holes.

Logged

BFS. The worlds first Methane fueled FFORSC engined CFRP structured A380 sized aerospaceplane tail sitter capable of flying in Earth and Mars atmospheres. BFR. The worlds biggest Methane fueled FFORSC engined CFRP stainless steel structured booster for BFS. First flight to Mars by end of 2022. Forward looking statements. T&C apply. Believe no one. Run your own numbers. So, you are going to Mars to start a better life? Picture it in your mind. Now say what it is out loud.

The fuel and LOX enter separately via the two flanges at the side. You can read FUEL and LOX at the top of the flanges. As suggested by envy887, this is likely the where the gimbal is mounted.

Oops. My eyesight....

Logged

BFS. The worlds first Methane fueled FFORSC engined CFRP structured A380 sized aerospaceplane tail sitter capable of flying in Earth and Mars atmospheres. BFR. The worlds biggest Methane fueled FFORSC engined CFRP stainless steel structured booster for BFS. First flight to Mars by end of 2022. Forward looking statements. T&C apply. Believe no one. Run your own numbers. So, you are going to Mars to start a better life? Picture it in your mind. Now say what it is out loud.

Obvious questions. How long to make and how much post processing? No real indicator of the injector pattern. That hole at the top could be feeding a network of injection holes.

The hole at the top looks like it doesn't have an o-ring sealing surface like the other ports. Spark plug port?

Might just be a mounting point for a gimbal bearing.

Based on the picture of the assembled engine that they posted recently, the gimbal attaches to the 4 threaded holes on top of the injector. The center port is the only one that doesn't have a chamfer for an o-ring, which makes me think it is for the spark plug because they don't use o-rings. If they do have a centrally located spark torch igniter, this would help narrow down what injector they are using because it would rule out a pintle.

Vector Introduces New VP of Manufacturing to Lead Production of Vector-R & H Launch Vehicles

Automotive manufacturing veteran Brian Barron to drive accelerated rate of launch vehicle production never before achieved in traditional aerospace industry

TUCSON, Ariz., April 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Vector, a microsatellite launch company comprised of new-space and enterprise software industry veterans from SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, McDonnell Douglas, Boeing, Sea Launch and VMware, today announced plans to reshape the aerospace industry by incorporating best practices from the automotive industry to mass manufacture its Vector-R and Vector-H launch vehicles. Spearheading the revolutionary endeavor will be Brian Barron, Vector's new vice president of manufacturing. Barron brings to Vector more than two decades of global automobile manufacturing experience, most recently at BMW Manufacturing and Lucid Motors, an automotive electric vehicle startup.

Barron will oversee manufacturing at Vector's upcoming state-of-the-art rocket manufacturing facility in Arizona, where Vector will draw upon the company's widespread passion for automobile racing to revolutionize the mass production of rockets much like the assembly production of Henry Ford's Model T once changed the automotive world. Using automated manufacturing processes, such as 3D printing, on its assembly line, Vector plans to scale full production of the Vector-R up to 100 rockets per year – a rate never before achieved in the traditional aerospace industry.

"Vector was influenced and shaped by the automotive industry, and we continue to see numerous parallels between automobiles and rockets," said Jim Cantrell, CEO and co-founder of Vector. "The systems and assembly techniques used to produce high-end, luxury cars is an approach we believe can easily be applied to build Vector's family of launch vehicles. By tapping Brian's expertise in this area, Vector will build rockets analogous with the methods used to mass produce cars, a carbon fiber Model-T as it were, enabling us to deliver on our goal of producing hundreds of launch vehicles per year."

Vector will transform the paradigm of how rockets are mass produced in a low cost and reliable manner, allowing Vector to reduce overall costs for buyers, much like the modern automobile. Leveraging Barron's extensive knowledge from his career in the automotive industry, Vector will establish high-volume aerospace manufacturing operations, including solidifying the manufacturing strategy and direction, selecting the required supply chain to provide high quality components, and recruiting the team to establish and run the manufacturing operations.

"Applying automotive manufacturing principles to the aerospace world is a vision that I share with Jim, and strongly believe in its ability to enable Vector to push the envelope for the industry," said Brian Barron, vice president of manufacturing at Vector. "I am honored to join the Vector team at such a pivotal stage in the company's growth and look forward to taking part in transforming how Vector will mass produce launch vehicles."

Before Vector, Barron spent nearly 20 years at BMW, where he held a variety of leadership roles and was responsible for thousands of employees, hundreds of workstations, and several assembly lines across the BMW Group. Prior to his latest role at Lucid Motors, Barron was director of operations at NIMR Automotive, a producer of wheeled military vehicles. In his role at NIMR Automotive in the United Arab Emirates, he was responsible for the entire automotive manufacturing operation for military and security vehicles. Barron is also a veteran of the United States Navy, where he served six years as a sonar technician and mainframe weapons/computer systems technician.

About Vector:Founded by the original founding team of SpaceX, Vector is a disruptive company that connects space startups and innovators with dedicated, affordable and reliable launch services, enabling platforms and vehicles to access space efficiently and in a more optimized way than ever before possible. For more information, visit http://www.vector-launch.com

As of February, Vector was applying for FCC permits to support a suborbital launch in California NET March (0162-EX-ST-2018) and an orbital launch from Wallops NET June (0164-EX-ST-2018). The one for the orbital flight (0164) shows a timeline of flight events. Maybe the Wallops one is switching to Kodiak? Or they're different flights? Vector makes SpaceX look like a bastion of stability.

HRL Laboratories, LLC, with Vector Space Systems (VSS) as subcontractor, has a 24-month effort to develop additive manufacturing technology for reinforced ceramic rocket engine components. The technology will be specifically applied to VSS’ LOX/propylene rocket engines in the 800-lbf thrust class and will result in greater than 10 times cost reduction, greater than 10 times reduction in fabrication time and could increase payload by over 10 percent by allowing the integration of complex features that would not be manufacturable otherwise. By maturing this unique process to 3D-print high-temperature ceramics beyond the tipping point for commercialization, a range of aerospace and other applications could benefit from rapid, low-cost fabrication, including upper stage rocket engine chambers/thrusters for small launch vehicles, in-space thrusters for spacecraft, as well as high-temperature components in turbo-pump and combustion devices for larger launch vehicles.

We have invented inexpensive pre-ceramic resins that can be printed with conventional stereolithography (SLA) 3D printers [Science Vol 351, p.58 2016]. After printing, the polymer parts can be converted to ceramic by firing in inert atmosphere at 1000-degrees C, offering a 10 times faster and 10 times less expensive method to produce ceramic rocket engine components compared to conventional processing out of ceramic matrix composites. By incorporating fiber reinforcement, the ceramic engine can be toughened and strengthened, averting the brittle fracturing commonly associated with ceramics. Compared to refractory metal-based components, the cost savings are even larger.

Our breakthrough in additive manufacturing of polymer-derived ceramics combines the ease, flexibility and low-cost of polymer stereolithography with the high-temperature capabilities of SiC-based ceramics. By avoiding conventional powder-based ceramic processing routes, we will achieve fully dense ceramics with exceptionally high strength. Our most mature 3D-printed silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) ceramic composition exhibits high strength of 300 MPa and survives temperatures of 1700-degrees C for multiple hours. Printed parts can be easily joined in the polymer stage to fabricate ceramic structures that are larger than the build volume of the 3D printer.

Together with VSS, HRL will mature the technology from TRL 4 to TRL 6, and scale up fabrication, culminating in hot fire testing of high-performance 800-lbf thrust class LOX/propylene rocket engines with novel designs enabled by additive manufacturing.

Jim Cantrell, entrepreneur, and founder of SpaceX*, current CEO of Vector Space Systems will be speaking at the lunch on Sunday, July 1st, 2018 on “Technology Vs Tyranny”. How technology can help regain Liberty, especially related to space exploration.